Are Trade Deadline Deals worth the price?

In most seasons the NHL trade deadline is a time of a great number of trades and excitement. With that being said though it is not very often when big name players get moved and then the players actually goes about making a significant impact on his new NHL team. Now, many people would argue that Ray Bourque?s deal to Colorado from Boston in 2000 is an example of a player who helped to push his team over the edge but there have been many more examples of failures over the years than beneficial trades.

This year for example, the St. Louis Blues made a significant trade that had many people speculating that the Blues would make a serious run for the cup, and had U.S. sportsbooks quickly adjusting their NHL betting odds. On paper the addition of Ryan Miller and Steve Ott seemed like perfect additions for the already stacked Blues lineup. The Blues needed a top caliber goalie and teams always need extra grit for an extended playoff run. To make the deal happen the blues had to give up an expendable Halak but they also gave up Chris Stewart, a prospect in William Carrier, and a 2015 first-round pick. Now, we all know that teams have to give up something in order to get a good return; I think that many people would argue that in hindsight they gave up a lot for two players and they did not advance past the first round of the NHL playoffs.

Let’s have another look at an example of a team, the Senators, who gave up a third round pick for Hemsky and then did not even make the playoffs. While I think that the Senators had to try to do something in order to make the playoffs, I think that we can all agree that it was a huge failure for them to loose Alfredsson as a UFA last summer for nothing in return. The only person who I think benefited from the Hemsky trade was Hemsky as he went on to have 17 points in 20 games before his UfA summer.

Personally, I am a huge fan of trade deadline deals. I think that they add a lot of excitement for the fans however there are many times that I think that teams overpay and give away their future in return for players who end up having little to no impact on the team.

Of interest, please take a minute and have a look at this list of trades from the 2013 NHL Trade Deadline. It should not be forgotten that that the Black Hawks were the ones that won the Stanley Cup. They only make one small deal.

What do you think? It is worth it to give up assets for rentals? Would you risk giving away your teams future for short term rentals?